


Tag in, tag out

by Rangergirl3



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fear of Drowning, Found Family, Gen, Near Death Experiences, Taking one for the team, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-08 22:01:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18903496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rangergirl3/pseuds/Rangergirl3
Summary: When a teammate is in danger, Keith doesn't stand by when there is something he can do to help - even if it might cost him his life.





	Tag in, tag out

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by Anon
> 
> Can I maybe ask for Collared and Chained with Hunk? Thank you for letting us prompt!

Hunk tried to remember the slow breathing technique that Shiro had taught them, that one time back in the Castle.

_Breathe in, count of four, breathe out, count of four. Repeat._

"It'll be fine, yeah, it'll be fine, just keep breathing and don't think about how this place is probably haunted."

_Just ignore the sound of the door opening, that's your imagination, Hunk, come on, just breathe._

"Training, training, gotta remember the training. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe i-"

_Ironic, so cruelly ironic that the Yellow Paladin couldn't break out of an underground dungeon._

"Yellow will find me, it's just - taking longer than it should - yeah, it's just the forcefield around the base, it'll be fine. Gotta breathe. Gotta breathe."

_But it was **so**  difficult to stay calm when you were stuck in a spooky, haunted, underground cell. Oh, and especially when you were chained and collared to a wall made out of solid iron. Yeah. That made things a lot more difficult._

* * *

The first Galra sentry went down without a sound. Lance wasted no time in shooting the other three between the eyes before shooting the cell door open and barreling down the stairs at a dead run. 

Some high-ranking Galra officer loyal to Sendak had taken Hunk.

Lance would not hesitate to do whatever it took to retrieve his best friend and bring him home.

* * *

 _Footsteps_.

Hunk swallowed and figured he was better off staying quiet until he knew just how bad the situation was.

_Breathe, breathe, breathe. Ooooh, boy, this was not a great day, not even a little bit -_

Then a familiar voice shouted his name, and it was all Hunk could do not to tear up with relief. Okay, maybe he did, a little, but Lance was here. It was all going to be fine now. Lance was here. They could make it out of anything, as long as they had each other.

* * *

* * *

"That Galra _bastard_ damnit asshole  _damnit_ fuck fuck fucking _fuck_ -"

Pidge continued to use every word in her extensive swear vocabulary as she scanned the cell's schematics. Her rage delayed her slightly.

"Fucking bastard, scaring Hunk like this, I will kill that Galra bastard myself, I swear to g-"

Over her comms, Keith's words came as cold as ice.

"You can't."

Pidge sat upright, her snarl practically feral.

" ** _WHY_**?!"

His image flashed into life on her visual comms. His teeth looked sharper when he smiled.

"I already beat you to it."

Pidge's rage-ometer decreased from that of a sun going full supernova to one about a day away from such an event.

"Details."

Keith wiped a smear of what might have been blood - _or gore, her darker side hoped_ \- from one side of his face. 

"Later. Is Lance-?"

Pidge nodded, once, almost murderously satisfied at the knowledge that anything that had been breathing, and standing in the way of the Blue Paladin, was no longer fulfilling either function.

"He's with Hunk - now all we have to do is figure out a way to unlock the damn restraints and we are _out_ of this fucking nightmare."

Keith nodded. "I'll meet you at your location. Two minutes."

As the comms screen blinked out, and she went back to her work, Pidge belatedly realized that Keith's helmet visor had been shattered at some point in the fight, but otherwise he seemed completely unscathed.

 _That was practically a **fucking** miracle_.

And yeah, maybe she did use 'fuck' too often.

Perhaps, one day, in the future, she would use it less.

_But not this **fucking** day._

* * *

Keith reached Pidge just as their comms buzzed with a familiar voice. 

"Hey, guys?"

Hunk's words were quavery, and fainter then normal. His voice must be getting picked up by Lance's comms.

"...uh...the cell's...sort of flooding..."

Pidge's fingers stuttered on the keys for only half a second, but Keith saw her already pale face go several shades paler.

"It's fine, we've got time," she said. Sweat beaded her forehead. 

Keith shot a look between her and the open cell door. 

"What do you need me to do?" he asked.

"Find a panel. I need a Galra bio scan to get through the last firewall."

"Got it."

* * *

* * *

"Pidge, tell me you made it through the last firewall," Lance said. He was doing his best to remain calm, but some of the unease must have bled through his voice. Regardless, neither the Red or Green Paladin answered.

_That couldn't be good._

To Hunk's credit, though, the Yellow Paladin only really started to panic when the water reached his waist. 

"Lance, I don't think we're going to make it out of here - oh, this is bad, this is really really bad -"

"Buddy, it's okay," Lance said. "It's okay. It's fine. Pidge has got this. Keith's helping her. It's gonna be fine."

Hunk swallowed. "But - your helmet's all broken up and - and mine got taken when I -"

Lance gently placed each of his palms against Hunk's face, and the reassuring physical contact was enough to make Hunk turn and look into his best friend's eyes.

"Hunk. _Buddy_. It's gonna be _fine_."

"Yeah, b-b-"

Pidge appeared on the visual display, her image flickering and blurring as she spoke.

"Lance, Hunk, do you copy? We found another way to get you out, but the timing's going to be close. Once Hunk's free, you get to the top of the stairs as fast as you can, okay?"

"We copy," Lance said. "Ready when you are."

His friend's calm demeanor helped Hunk to focus.

There was a click from the other side of the wall, and the iron manacle around Hunk's loosened its hold with a reluctant creaking sound.

* * *

* * *

_Moments before_

* * *

* * *

"Pidge, none of the scanners I found are working."

"I know! Just - just shut up and let me think-"

Just then, Lance's audio came on. It was fragmented, but the general idea was clear.

_They were running out of time._

Keith opened a separate comms channel, one where only Pidge and he could communicate. 

"Pidge, you said the chains and collar were programmed to Hunk's bio code, right?"

His visual feed was patchy, but Pidge nodded. Her hair was standing up all over her head, and she looked precisely what a frazzled cat might look like in similar circumstances.

"Yeah - but that command station is on the other side of the wall from Hunk and Lance. It's flooding, too - slower than their side, but Keith, if we can't get Hunk free before the water fries the controls, then -"

He cut her off. 

"It's okay. I think I can buy us some time."

"How?!"

"I'm going to try something."

"WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO TRY?!"

He skidded to a halt at the top of the stairs. Not good. Water covered the bottom four steps.

"I can tell the control panel it has the wrong bio code."

"It'll just ask you for another bio code, and -"

"That's the thing. I _have_ a bio code, if it comes to that. And maybe it won't -"

The short pause that followed vanished when Pidge shrieked 'ARE YOU **FUCKING** KIDDING ME?!' at the top of her lungs into his ear. 

 _Ow_. 

"Pidge, _listen_ , it'll give you more time to hack the control panel, right? Maybe run a - a diagnostic, or something, I don't kno-"

"RUN A FUCKING DIA-??!! - **KEITH** IF WE LIVE THROUGH THIS I WILL MAKE YOU MEMORIZE  ** _ANALOG_**   ** _CALCULUS_** _YOU_ ** _-_** _"_

The rest of her sentence splintered into fragments as he reached the control panel. Keith figured the universe would be a much nicer place if there were a simple setting for 'release prisoner' on a Galra prison base, but it looked like only the commander of the prison himself would be able to call _that_  option up.

Keith had learned enough of the Galra language to make out the basics by now, so he went straight to the 'release lock' section.

The letters blinked a few times, then new text appeared at the bottom of the screen. 

_Bio-code error?_

Keith didn't hesitate for a second. He selected the 'YES' option.

_Scan alternate bio-code._

Keith placed his own palm against the screen. Immediately, five points of light appeared beside the command panel. They blinked on and off, on and off, like the little holiday lights people sometimes put up in their dorm rooms at Garrison in the winter.

He could hear faint voices on the other side of the wall. 

_Lance, doing his best to reassure Hunk._

_Yeah._

_Lance was right._

_It **was**  going to be fine._

Keith kept his hand pressed flat against the screen.

* * *

One of the blinking lights turned green, and a thin piece of metal rose out of the command panel and secured itself around the Red Paladin's right ankle.

From the other side of the wall, Lance let out a whoop of joy.

"It worked. Pidge, it worked, do it again!"

Keith let out a slow breath and did his best to keep his fingers from shaking.

_The water was already up his knees. It would be deeper in the other cell._

Two other metal cuffs followed, clicking tight shut, the first over his left ankle, the second over his left wrist.

"Lance, I think it's working!"

Hunk's shout of surprised delight almost made it possible for the Red Paladin to ignore the fear in his belly as the last two braided strips of metal rose from beside the command screen and locked themselves into place around his right wrist and then, finally, around his neck.

"Pidge," he said. His throat felt dry. "It'd be g-great if you could fry the system n-now."

Lance's cry was almost indignant. 

"Not yet, Mullet, Hunk still isn't free! I think there's a final command in place or something we need to send. Pidge, do your thing!"

Keith couldn't bring himself to answer. 

_Right. The final bio-scan._

There'd be no going back after that.

Even as that thought crossed his mind, Keith hated himself for it.

 _The water was already at his sternum._ _Hunk and Lance must be almost neck-deep in water by now._

So instead of hesitating, Keith gritted his teeth together and kept his palm pressed flat against the screen. There was a hum, a click, and a whirring noise, and then Lance's exuberant whoop of victory.

"He's free! Pidge, you did it, he's free! Hunk, come on, swim for the stairs, it's not too far - I'll help you, come on, I've gotcha-"

Even as splashing and shouts came from the other side of the wall, the magnetism in his own cuffs activated, and for an awful moment, Keith was afraid they'd secure him to the floor and he would drown without being able to say goodbye, but there must have been an automatic setting and instead the cuffs attached themselves, and him, to the wall directly above the command panel.

It wasn't exactly a painless process. The magnetic cuffs weren't exactly careful or considerate in how they got him to the wall. They just took him there, regardless of whatever else was in the way.

Somewhere in the process, Keith's head slammed against a hard metal surface - _probably that damn control panel_ \- and all of his problems and concerns sort of faded away into nothing.

* * *

He woke up in a pod. 

The 'waking up part' was the part that surprised him the most.

The pod was sort of...normal, all things considered.

But the only thing that really mattered to him was that everyone - Hunk, and Lance, and Pidge, and Shiro, and Coran, and Allura - _everyone_ was there when he did wake up.

**Author's Note:**

> I do not know if analog calculus is a thing, but if it is, Pidge absolutely made Keith learn how to do it without a calculator.


End file.
